This invention relates to tire servicing equipment, and, more specifically to bead seating apparatus for use with tire changers.
One difficulty encountered in tire changing apparatus today is in such apparatus equipped with tire bead seating apparatus. Typically, the rim receiving table of such apparatus is provided with a plurality of apertures out of which small jets of air may be directed toward the interface of a wheel rim having a tire received thereon. Some of the air enters the interior of the tire through the interface causing a pressure differential which, in turn, causes the tire to expand to seat the bead.
The difficulty with such apparatus is that the many jets, frequently on the order of twenty or more in number, generate very turbulent streams of air which diffuse rapidly so that air is directed to the interior of the tire very inefficiently. This, in turn, has caused such systems to be limited to locations where air under very high pressures, frequently 150 psig or more, is available. Even when such high pressure air is employed, reliable seating of the bead on various so-called "difficult" tire and rim combinations cannot be achieved.